Then - to ice this shit cake - the Yankees win three straight, and I go barefoot-babbling about Magic Numbers, as if the last six weeks never happened. Have I no spine? Have I lost my mind? Is everyone on this site just, like me, a bipolar Yankee toadie?
The short answer: Yes, what of it?
Listen: I view IT IS HIGH as the chinless, monkeypoxed face of a feral, rudderless, ratlike and reptilian Yankee Id. When we win, all is Lady Gaga with the universe. When we lose, we are plunged balls-first into a Stygian existential grief, best described by Freddie Nietzsche as "the Abyss." I make no apologies for this insane conundrum. There are too many generational trip-wires for me to explain, though I suggest that most of you, dear readers, know exactly what I'm talking about.
As for the last eight weeks, when we vaulted from hope to despair, I believe IT IS HIGH readers have been more keenly plugged into the Yankiverse than any other outpost on Al Gore's informational superhighway. We were carping about bullpen woes long before the MSM asked about Clay Holmes' spasms. The Yankees have run hot and cold in an unprecedented historical fashion, and we saw the looming collapse first, even with a 12-game lead.
Some say we have it out for Brian Cashman, that no matter what he does, we fling our feces at him out of spite and habit. And yeah, there is plenty of Cashman fatigue on this site. We've been married to the guy for 20 years, with season ending, throat-clearing sex just once -in 2009 - and that's a drought that makes California's wildfire season look like Water World.
Some say we condemned Cashman's Aug. 2 deals out of habit. That's not entirely true. Though I am an unapologetic prospect-hugger - (Hey, why not invite Doug Drabek and Jay Buhner to Old-Timers day?) - I favored getting Andrew Benintendi (and, of course, trading Joey Gallo, no matter what he's done in LA - and, yeah, I'm rooting for him.) I was okay with Effross and Montas for one reason: You always need pitching, pitching, pitching, right? Everybody knows this. It's 90 percent pitching, right? And on that note, I fucking HATED the trade of Jordan Montgomery - HOW CAN YOU DEAL A HOMEGROWN YANKEE, TESTED IN NY, A YOUNG LEFTY STARTER? - even before learning the guy we got in return might not suit up in 2022.
Cashman... how could you?
Yes, we have said meanspirited things about Cashman, and at times, I cringe. Still... 20 years... one ring? Nah. No apologies. It's been too long. I want a fucking parade. I want the fucking Canyon of Heroes. At this point, I'll take a trip to the fucking world series where we don't get fucking swept. If we win it, I will - as Pedro said - lift my cap and call Cashman my daddy.
But it's been too long, and in the time since O'Neill transformed into a YES man, I became an old man. Before I'm gone, I would like to see the Yankees be the Yankees again, and I don't know if this ownership is willing or able to do it.
So, three wins in a row, Giancarlo returning, and even Zack Britton might make a cameo appearance, (much like a celebrity poking out of a window while Adam West's Batman rappels down a building) -all is right with the world - for now!
But we are still walking a perilous cliff. We must beat both Oakland and Hell's Angels, and then avoid crucial series against our festering divisional enemies. And if we fail, don't come here looking for excuses.
Sporting obsessions are crazy. I view it like this: Few events in life can cause you to literally leap from the couch and scream for joy. Think about it: The birth of a child, maybe. Or winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Well, in the last week, Oswaldo Cabrera delivered two. So, no apologies for the insanity. We have the month of September, still to go. Strap yourself in. It's going to be a bumpy ride. We wouldn't want it any other way.
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20 comments:
Well said. Paying close attention to the Yankees isn't for everyone, but if one does pay close attention it was not difficult to see that the Yankees had one of the shakiest 14 game leads in the history of MLB. 64 Phils and 78 Red Sox were the obvious comps, even in mid June. And regarding the Cashman Question, his record of consistent above average performance is undeniable. He's exactly the kind of employee an international industrial machinery concern would want from its head of sales. Or investors would want from a fund manager. But this is the NY Yankees, goddammit, and being "in it" every year just ain't, or shouldn't be, good enough.
When your team has a history like the Yankees have, putting a "competitive" team on the field every year just doesn't cut it. Especially when free agents you could've had were not even on the radar, great pitchers--which we rarely have nowadays--are signed elsewhere, and the decisions of the front office are clearly driven by something other than winning a ring.
This isn't rocket science, it's baseball. And when you've followed a team for 40, 50, 60 years, you see what works and what doesn't and you learn from that. Some moves are painfully obvious, and when they aren't made, you have a right to squawk. You wonder what the hell is wrong with the people driving the bus--are they blind? Stupid? Too close to the problems to see clearly? Or do they have ulterior motives that have nothing to do with winning the World Series?
So, we carp. Somebody should. Most other blogs and definitely all MSM sportswriters and commentators are too respectful of the powers that be, even cravenly obsequious. We're just trying to balance the scales and point out the repeated failures.
Fuck yes. What fucking of it.
As for Cashman? I will take a break from flogging him if the Yankees win a championship. That is the only measure of a Yankee GM: how many rings did your teams win.
Duque, "a few friends have confided that they've avoided this site due to our wild, boundless, over-the-top negativity". Well, you know what, tell 'em we don't need them!
"Before I'm gone, I would like to see the Yankees be the Yankees again, and I don't know if this ownership is willing or able to do it." This is it, in a nutshell. During the mad king days of George SB, ownership was like a crazy circus, obviously driven to win but doing all the wrong things in the '80s. With the suspension of mad king George, sanity returned, along with championships. Now mad king George has been replaced by his alter ego, prince HAL, who is the epitome of corporate stability, and as Publius, puts it, "above average performance" but without winning championships. Not only is this not good enough, it is the equivalent of selling their Yankee souls for money or risk management and other secondary considerations.
We've gone from a madhouse circus to a corporate boardroom where nothing ever changes, despite only winning one championship in more than twenty years. This ain't good enough for the greatest sports franchise in the world, the franchise that used to win championships in bunches of 3, 4, 5 consecutive years. If it continues with this current long running pursuit of mediocrity, in ten or twenty years, people aren't going to think of the New York Yankees as winners. They'll think of the Yankees as "boring, complacent posers, losers pretending to be winners". No one in their right mind will want to be a part of that fanbase. Prince HAL better wake up soon.
If only Adam West's BATMAN could be our 2022 New York Yankees manager and his faithful chum, The Boy Wonder, Robin his bench coach then and only then would this season be in the bag. Because you know that they would also bring back that days gone by tradition of the Player/Manager (and the even rarer Player/Coach).
Batman and Robin would save us from the evil Penguin (Cashman), Mr Freeze (Hal), The Joker (Michael Kay) and all the rest . . .
(I haven't had my Above Average coffee yet -its still brewing - or I would have buzzed through a few more) like Commissioner Gordon, Chief Ohara, Rob Manfred (damnit - I meant the Riddler) - but you know I could return after some MUCH NEEDED CAFFEINATION ~~~~~~~~~~!
Back in the day, when a team was on a very long losing streak, the manager would put players names in a hat, pull them out random-like and construct the starting lineup from that. That usually ended up as a win. Analytics stops them from doing that...
Duque, this is why we will follow you to hell and back. THANK YOU!!!!
I'm arriving here late this morning but I'll second 13Bit's sentiments. Wow on today's post.
13Bit: You've been prescribed Paxlovid, right? I got a mean-spirited case of Covid in early June and provided relief within 24-48 hours.
I read a book once -- Ten Rings. By Yogi Berra (as told to someone or other).
In it, a guy with a somewhat-normal baseball career -- including a NYY bit on his resume that spanned (including managerial time) only 17 years -- talks about how he won TEN WORLD SERIES RINGS.
I believe Cashman thinks it was fiction.
Great work, Duque! And great comments, guys!
I think Hamer put his finger (? hammer?) on it: The Yankees want to constantly batten on the past—but they don't want to live up to it.
The Yanks regularly call themselves the greatest sports franchise ever, the best in baseball, yadayadayada. Those signs in the tunnels saying things such as, "Thank God the Good Lord made me a Yankee," or whatever it is, didn't place themselves there. There aren't any signs in the Thunderdome saying, "Thank God the Good Lord made me a Devil, uh, RAY!"
But somehow, we're supposed to simultaneously be thrilled by that past AND not let it drive expectations. How does that work, exactly?
Cashman has been "quiet quitting" for years. Just for that (and for punting on August this year) he can go fuck himself.
Well said, Platoni. Cashman should go fuck himself ... preferably with Prince Hal's severed head.
What? We’re supposed to be adoring sycophants?
Give us something to syc our teeth into and maybe - MAYBE - we’ll be happy for a while.
As to Platoni’s idea about picking lineups out of a hat, I thought that’s exactly what the asswipe of a manager has been doing all year.
Fire both of those useless turds and hire Jeet and Donny.
Until then, and even if the Yankees somehow manage to finagle their way into the WS, fuck Hal, fuck the intern, and fuck Boooone.
What Dick said.
thank you casting these pearls before us swine: "the chinless, monkeypoxed face of a feral, rudderless, ratlike and reptilian Yankee Id."
In addition to the correct and appropriate bipolar analysis, it's prose like this that keeps me checking in every day -- or should I say most days because after each loss I'm pretty much suicidal and definitely angry and the only thing that keeps me going is trying to ignore the fucking Yankees.
What some call negativity we call reality.
This blog has been consistently negative, and consistently correct. Until Biden announces salary cap forgiveness, allowing us to wipe away all past mistakes (including building that god damn stadium), pessimism shall reign.
I was too young and too healthy during the Reagan administration. Not so much since, especially my liver.
Mr. bit, glad to see you did not lose your sense of humor or your perspective (if those are different).
And A.A. Milne would be proud of your prose.
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